Improvement in corn-planters



M. c. FLOYD.

I Corn-Planter. v

Patented Jan. 3( 1866.

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WITNESSES,

N- PETERS, PHOTO L THOGRA WASHINGTON D C M. O. FLOYD, OF BLOOMFIELD, IOWA.

IMPROVEMENT IN CORN-PLANTERS..

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 52,281, dated January 30, 1866.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, M. G. FLOYD, of Bloomfield, in the county of Davis and State of Iowa, have invented a new and Improved Corn- Planter; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making a part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the improved cornplanter. Fig. 2 is alongitudinal section through the machine, taken in a vertical plane. Fig. 3, Sheet 2, is a longitudinal vertical section showing the forward part of the machine elevated. Fig. 4 is a vertical section taken in a longitudinal direction through ,the center of the seed-dropping device.

Similar letters of reference indicate correspondin g parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to an improvement on that class of corn-planters which consists of a jointed carriage. which is mounted upon wheels and provided with a drivers seat, and also with a contrivance by which the driver can elevate or depress the forward part of the carriage at pleasure.

The nature of my invention consists in combining with a corn-planter having a jointed frame and two transporting-wheels, a compound-lever attachment, by means of which the driver, while sitting upon his seat on one part of said frame, can easily elevate the other part of this frame sufficiently high from the ground to allow of the turning of the machine at the ends of the rows, as will be hereinafter described.

To enable others skilled in the art to understand my invention, I will describe its construction and operation.

In the accompanying drawings, A represents a frame, which is constructed of longitudinal and transverse beams, and which is mounted upon two transporting-wheels, B B, which have short axles a a, to. the latter one of which a wheel, 0, is keyed, having studs b b projecting from its sides for actuating the seed-droppin g devices.

In front of the frame A, and suitably hinged to its front beam, is a frame, D, consisting of two transverse beams, c c, and two longitudinal planks, cl (1, to the upper and lower sides of which the beams c c are secured, as shownin Figs. 1,2, and 3. This frameD is so hinged to the frame A that the former will be allowed to rise and fall, and may be elevated or depressed for the purpose'of turning the machine at the ends of the rows.

E E are two hoppers, which are'secured upon the frame D, and which are provided with longitudinal seed-slides e c in their bottoms, which slides are connected, by vertical pins f f, to a horizontal vibrating bar, g, which is pivoted to a central perpendicular post, g, which is erected upon the rear bar, 0, of frame D. These slides e e deliver the seed into tubes F F in the standards of the runners G G, which tubes terminate in four branches, each for delivering the grains of corn in four distinct places in a hill. The openers G Gmay be constructed as shown in the drawings or in any other suitable manner.

The central post, g, is secured rigidly to the frame D, and it is connected to the draft-pole H by means of a front brace, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. This postg has a rod, J, pivoted at its upper end, which rod proceeds back and is pivoted to a vibrating lever, K. This lever is pivoted at its lower end to the central longitudinal beam of the main frame A, as shown in Fig. 3, and proceeds upward in front of the drivers seat L and alongside of the longitudinal bar M. This lever K has a double ratchet plate, a, secured to it,

which engages with the right and left teeth of a catch-plate,j, that projects from the side of the bar M, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. Thus it will be seen that I have a compound lever placed under the control. of the driver while sitting upon the seat L, by which he can raise or depress the forward frame, D, so as to turn freely at the ends of the rows.

The ratchet and catchplates above described are intended for holding the frame D either in an elevated or a depressed position, as may be required. The tongue or draft-pole H is attached to the horses, so that they support the forward part of the machine when the frame D is elevated.

P P are two vibrating levers, which are pivoted to a support, It, on the forward bar of the frame A, and immediately in front of the wheel 0. The upper end of the lever P is attached to the lower end of the lever I by means of a rope or chain, 1, which passes over a pulley, S, at the forward end of the support R, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The upper end of the lever P is connected by means of a rod, 7?, to one arm of the vibrating lever g, so that as the wheel O rotates the studs 1) I) will strike the ends of the levers P P and give these levers a "ibrating movement, which movement will be communicated to the lever g of the seed-dropping devices. arranged as to move the levers P P at such intervals as may be required for dropping the seed.

I am aware that it is not new to employ a single lever in a hinged-frame corn planter, and I do not claim, broadly, the use of such a. lever for raising and lowering the frame D, as it requires an expenditure of too much labor on the part of the driver to use such a lever. I employ a compound lever consisting of a vibrating lever, K, a thrust-bar, J, and a vertical post, g, which are so arranged and applied to the hinged frames A and D that the driver can easily elevate or depress the frame D and secure this frame in any desired position. This arrangement, in conjunction with an automatic seed-dropping apparatus, renders the machine as a corn-planter very desirable and useful.

Having thus described my invention, what I The pins b bare so claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. The combination of the'levers K g and connecting-rod J with the hinged frames A D, the lever K being provided with a ratchet or its equivalent, by which it can be fixed at any desired point, substantially as described.

2. Supporting the seeddropping devices upon a frame, D, which is hinged to the main frame A, and provided with a vertical post, g, in combination with the rodJ and lever K, substantially as described.

3. Providing for dropping the seed automatically by means of a studded wheel, 0, acting upon levers P P, which are connected together by a chain, a", and which are also connected to the vibrating lever g, substantially as described.

4. Sustaining the vertical post g upon the frame D by means of the draft-pole H, in combination with the rod J and vibrating lever K, arranged substantially as described.

M. O. FLOYD.

Witnesses Y J. B. GLENN, J. W. EnLis. 

